Medical Mycology: Open Access

Upstream and downstream processing of Ganoderma lucidum mycelial extract: A road to natural remedies?

Humankind has experimented with various sources and techniques to counter global health issues that include drug resistance and newly-developed types of infections. In 2010, approximately 15 million people died from contagious infections, despite the readily-available extensive synthetic prescribed drug combinations in the market. Extra effort must be dedicated to the development of non-synthetic, natural-based remedies, particularly from medicinal mushrooms. To date, a safely established mushroom called Ganoderma lucidum shows the potential to be one of the best natural-based medicinal therapies combatting global health issues. This study describes the efficient production of the underutilised mycelium ofG. lucidum and in vitro testing of potential therapeutic effects obtained from the sulphated glucan derived from such mycelial cultures. For G. lucidum, most of the reported positive bioactivities are obtained from the fruiting bodies and not from their mycelial cultures. Such cultures represent a much faster way to produce glucan from G. lucidum compared to extraction from the flesh. If G. lucidum derived materials, having multifunctional effects are to be used to combat global health issues, they will need to be produced in bulk, quickly, cheaply and to a consistent quality. A mycelial cultivation called repeated-batch fermentation (RBF) has been done in a bioreactor solving the typical long cultivation time and generated efficient productivities. An elegant sulfation technique was applied to the extracted glucan, thus enhancing the water-solubility and therapeutic responses via multiple aseptic in vitro assays: antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-proliferative and immunomodulatory. The reported upstream process of G. lucidum via RBF has successfully improved the glucan production with a shorter cultivation time. The downstream process has indicated the benchmarks in battling global health issues, introducing a novel “quad-functional” approach of this bioreactor-derived material. These two processes may lead to a natural remedy, thus overcoming the problem of using singular-function synthetic drugs in health industries.

Author(s):

Wan Abd Al Qadr Imad Wan-Mohtar 

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